Sources: Mizzou expected to hire Memphis' Laird Veatch as AD
A source confirmed to PowerMizzou.com that Memphis Athletic Director Laird Veatch is expected to take the same position at Missouri. An announcement from the school could come as soon as today, though more likely later in the week after confirmation of the hire from the University's Board of Curators.
Sources said the deal is not yet done, but is expected to happen.
Desiree Reed-Francois left Mizzou to take the AD job at Arizona in mid-February. After an exhaustive search that lasted more than nine weeks, Mizzou finally has her replacement.
"It seems that everybody would like to be a athletic director in the SEC," Curator Bob Blitz said last week. "There are certain general characteristics that make a good athletic director and those are very important. We all know what they are. We all have a good idea of that. But just as important is that you have to get down into the specifics. What fits Missouri, does somebody want to live in Columbia, Missouri? Do they want to make it their home here? Are they going to get along with the administration are they going to get along with the board? So we're trying to do a thorough job, come up from a great list of candidates to get the best athletic director possible and my guess is we're getting close."
Veatch has been at Memphis since October of 2019. It was his first job as the man in charge. Prior to Memphis he spent two years at Florida as the Associate Athletic Director for Internal Affairs. Before that, he was at Kansas State, his alma mater, for seven years in various roles that included a stint as the Interim Athletic Director.
Veatch was originally hired by Learfield Communications as the general manager of Mizzou Sports Properites in 2003. He spent the next seven years at Learfield. He is a former Kansas State football player and a 1995 graduate. He began his administrative career at Texas in 1995, then spent six years at Missouri and two at Iowa State.
We will update this story as more information becomes available.
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